Changes

Chapter 18.

“Dad,” Jae said later that after noon, “I think I’m going to look for a new apartment or maybe I could move back home for a while, we have that apartment over the garage”
“Jae. . . don’t make any decisions yet, okay.” David told her.
“But, I think I want to be closer to you, right now I’m like 30 minutes away.”
“Why?”
“Well with everything that happened, I want to make sure that you’re near. I don’t want to have to depend on family friends”
“Jae. . . Think about it for a few days first before you decide”
“Alright, I have to go, you sure it’s okay that I take the car?”
“Yes, you have fun, be nice to them folks.”

Jae hugged her dad and then went out to the car. She quickly got in and took off toward the Walkers home which was closer to town. She sang along with the radio for most of the ride and then decided the music was not helping her nerves. She really had no reason to be nervous, she thought, it wasn’t like Chase and her had any serious relationship.

Jae pulled up to a gated house and sat there for a moment, she knew she had to roll down her window and press the button but she wasn’t sure if she could. She stared at the house, it was huge and gorgeous. She shivered and then took a deep breath and rolled down the window just as a car pulled up to the gate on the other side. A man got out and walked to the gate, it opened and he stepped through toward Jae.
“Ms. McKenzie,” He asked.
“Yes,” Jae replied.
“You can drive right up, someone will meet you at the front door.” He told her and went back to his car.
Jae sighed, once more, and started toward the house, as she got closer the house just looked bigger, more amazing. It was going to be an interesting dinner, she thought. She parked behind a new lexus and slowly got out of her car. She started around her car to the front door as it opened. She looked up to see a very good looking man walk down the front steps towards her, he was smiling.
“You must be Jae” He said to her as he held his hand out.
“Yes, and you must be Mr. Walker,” Jae said shaking his hand.
“Yes, but please call me C.K., come you must meet my wife. You are as pretty as he said you would be” He commented as they started back up the steps.
“As who said?”
“Chase, of course. He was here for a day last week and he talked non stop about you.” A woman said as she stepped into the doorway.
“Hello, Mrs. Walker. It’s nice to meet you” Jae told her.
“And you also, my dear”
“Renee, I don’t think Chase would appreciate you telling Jae about his visit” C.K. announced as they all walked into a side room from the main hallway. It ended up being a parlor, or a room just like it.
“Oh, posh, if he didn’t want that he shouldn’t have talked about her and he should of brought her to us so we could meet her.”
“He talked about me” Jae asked quietly as she took a seat.
“Yes, while he was here the other day, he had tons of nice things to say about you, actually he seemed worried about you”
“If he was so worried, then why did he leave”
“I’m not sure, you said that you wanted to know why he lied to you about who he is and where he comes from.” C.K. said.
“Yes, I found out the other day from my brother who he really is, but the day that Chase left, my ex boy friend, who I had no clue about came over and announced that he wanted me to get money from C.K. Walker. When Robert left, well when Chase helped him leave, I asked him who this Walker person was, in turn Chase left.”
“That is interesting.” Renee stated.
“My brother told me that Chase is C.K. Walker, the owner of Walker Industries. So he lied, he told me that he invested money and that was it. He had mentioned a little about how he came from money but never would elaborate on the topic.”
“Well,” Renee said glancing at C.K., “let me tell you a story.”
“I’ll leave you ladies alone to talk,” C.K. said as he got up to leave the room.
“Go ahead, Renee,” Jae told her.
“A couple of years ago, Chase met this wonderful girl, her name was Jessica. Jessica was everything he thought he could ever ask for in a woman, gorgeous, polite, well-mannered, fit in with the family and everyone that we are associated with. Chase was thinking of getting engaged to her, when he over heard a conversation, a phone conversation. They were living together and she was in the bedroom talking on the phone when Chase picked it up to place a call. She was talking to a friend, a female friend about how she almost had him that she was pretty sure they would be engaged by the end of the year and then she would really be living the life that she wanted. Her friend had asked if she loved Chase and she was adamant when saying she did not but what did that matter when he had all this money that she would be able to spend in a few months. He had already started giving her an allowance of sorts for her to go shopping, and when she was done with that money she could always ask for more. Chase was happy, thought she was happy too and wanted to please her the only way he knew how, by giving more money when she asked. She never asked for anything else.
Once he heard the phone conversation, he left and came home for a week, to think things through. He came to the conclusion that if he would ever want someone to like him for himself he would have to keep the fact that he was wealthy to himself. He went back and told Jessica that they were done and her true self came out. He had been living delusions, the ones that she helped create for almost 3 years. It was hard for him, he still doesn’t trust anyone to tell them the truth, which I know is rough and hard to get past, but I know for a fact that he wants to tell you but he just doesn’t know how to go about it.”
“Oh my, this . . . it helps, kind of. I mean I knew there had to of been a valid reason but for him not to trust me at all with this information when he has stood by me for ovr a month while I was in the hospital, it just doesn’t make any sense.” Jae told her.
“Yes, my dear, it does when you realize he loves you just as much as I’m sure you love him, He’s scared, Jordan, he really is. So you just have to let him decide what he wants to do.”
“I don’t know how long I can wait for that, Renee. I love him but he lied to me and I’m not sure how I can get past that since he isn’t around to explain himself, I mean he left, no explanation other than that his dad was sick, which evidently was just another lie.”
“I can’t explain that one other than he wanted to leave and thought of the first thing that came to mind. Let me ask you, when that ex boy friend was there how did Chase react?”
“He hit him and dragged him out into the hallway.”
“Oh, yes, he loves you. My little boy would never hit anyone unless he was very emotionally involved.”
“So, what do you think I should do?”
“Well, that depends on you. How long do you want to wait around, you do have a life to get back to you can’t wait on him to make up his mind. I think you should continue with whatever plans you have and then just wait. If you want to wait for him, that is. And when I say wait I mean, you can just not date or whatever you kids do now and see if he comes around or you can even date someone and maybe go to places that he might be at.”
“God, after all this I think I just need a vacation and take the time to think of everything.”
“Then do that, you can use our beach house or go to our house is Greece”
“You have a house in Greece . . . oh boy.”
“My dear, we may be wealthy but we are not snobs I can assure you.”
“I have a question for you, Renee, well you and C.K.”
“Would you like him to come back.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m sure you can answer for the both of you. Why? Why we’re you willing to tell me all of this and meet with me?”
“When Chase came over the other day, he was very upset and I knew something was bothering him, it took half the day before he finally decided to come and talk to me and he asked me how I knew I was in love with his father. Right then I knew he had met someone, of course I had heard from Candy that there was a woman in his life but he was very adamant in saying that you were just friends, even if he had us come up from Florida to make sure the business stayed in good condition. When he finally started talking about this woman who he was living by, Jae, was her name; once he started he didn’t stop until he told the whole story. I think he was scared that we would say that you were unsuitable for him and this family. We surprised him, though. His father said that he needed to bring this gal who talked back to his son over here so he could bond with her. I told him that I wanted to meet you so I could form my own opinion of you and go from there. And now that I have, I think you would fit in nicely with everyone. We have our moments that we have to be well mannered but we are a normal family.”
“Chase said he never learned to make cookies”
“True enough. I was raised with servants and so was C.K., my mother told me that I would never have to learn how to cook. It would be my job to be a wonderful wife and mother to my children and I was to concentrate on that and only that. I wish I had learned, it would have been a fun thing to do, maybe you can come over one afternoon and we can bake cookies or just sit and chat.”
“That would be fun.”
“So, the beach house?”
“What? . . . Oh, maybe I will have to think about it.”
“That’s fine, you just let us know if you want to use it, I’m sure we can trust you not to destroy it.”
“Oh, of course.”
“Now, let’s go and eat dinner.’
“Thank you for answering all my questions and telling me about Chase, most of it I do still want to learn on my own if I get the chance.”
“That’s understandable; I wouldn’t want to hear it all from the parents either if I was in your position”

Renee and Jae got up from their seats in the parlor and walked into the main hallway and toward the dinning room. C.K. was already seated and smiling as they walked to the table and sat down.
“Now, then, is everything settled, my son is no longer on the bad list.” C.K. announced questionably.
“Yes and No, sir. I think he still has a lot to answer for.” Jae told him.
“Of course he does.” Renee told him.
“Well, now, at least he has some brains since he picked such a lovely young woman to fall for.” C.K. went on.
“That he does.” Jae told him back.
“Of course, he is still a nice boy, good looking too. Renee, I told you when he was born he was going to be a good looking boy.” C.K. said.
“Yes, dear.” Renee said smiling as the first dish was served.
“I also told her that Candy was going to be hard to handle, she didn’t believe me at the time but it was true.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Oh, good I’m just in time, Dad is telling stories of our childhood” Candy said as she walked in the door, “Hello momma, daddy” Candy said again as she took a seat.
“Hello, dear, we didn’t know you were coming for dinner.” Renee said.
“Daddy called, said Chase’s woman was here and I should come and spend some quality time. So, I left the kids with Jared and came on over. Hello, Jae. It’s so nice to really meet you.” Candy announced.
“Hello Candy, it’s nice to meet you too. How are the kids?”
“Oh, wonderful, it’s nice to be a mother.”
“That’s good.”
“Do you want a family?”
“Very much so; especially now that I have lost my memory and been through everything. Amazing what decisions you want to make once something drastic happens to you.”
“Yes, although just don’t make hasty decisions about certain things; you don’t want to rush into something that you are not ready for.”
“Of course not. Most of mine that I am making now are ones that I have been debating for quiet a long time. I’m just rushing them along now, well hopefully rushing them along.”
“Why now, is it because you met Chase and know who he is.” Candy snapped.
“Candy Renee!” C.K. snapped, “that was rude and uncalled for.”
“No, C.K. it’s ok, it’s understandable to think that I am making these decisions now, when in reality, I had already made the decision right before I met Chase, which is why I had enlisted his help in making myself over; however, I realized that . . . well I thought Chase liked me when I realized this, that if he could like me as I was in my own crazy way, then someone else could, someone that I could spend my life with, so why should I change myself. Late in coming and it took meeting him to help me realize that but I already knew, before I realized I liked him.” Jae explained.
“See, Candy, Chase had nothing to do with the decision.” C.K. gloated.
“So, now what are you going to do” Candy asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t know where Chase is so I can’t exactly talk to him about it and I don’t know if it would change anything, so I am going to live my life. I think I am going to move out of the apartment to some place closer to my dad and get a new job and go from there.” Jae said.
“Do you think that’s smart, what if Chase comes back looking for you and you’re not there.”
“Then I don’t know, maybe I should leave him a note or message.”
“But he might take that as you don’t care and you don’t want him to find you.”
“He knows how to locate me, he always has.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then he obviously does not care as much as I hope and as much as everyone seems to think” Jae snapped.
“I think he would try to find you but I don’t know he is stubborn”
“I know, I guess I will just have to wait and see, right?”